For what types of expenses can you get social assistance?

You can get social assistance for certain housing costs, depending on the type of home you live in.

If you apply for social assistance for housing costs, you must send receipts and bills for the costs to Kela with your application. The bills must have a due date during the period for which you are applying for social assistance. The due date means the due date of the original bill, not the due date of the reminder.

Read more about sending receipts to Kela.

Read more about sending bills to Kela.

Rented housing

You can get social assistance for the following costs of a rented home:

• rent
• water and heating charges that are paid separately (such as for electric heating)
• a fee for the use of the sauna.

A rented apartment or house may be shared by persons who are members of different families. If you live in such a rented home and each tenant has their own rental agreement, we will take into account the amount agreed in your rental agreement as your rent. This applies in cases where the amount you pay is within the limits for the municipality.

It is also possible for tenants to have a joint lease even if they belong to different families who receive social assistance. In such a case, the rent and other housing costs are divided equally among the persons sharing the home. If the household, in other words the persons who live permanently in the same home, has been granted housing allowance, the housing allowance is also divided among the persons who live in the home and taken into account as income.

If you are applying for social assistance and you want Kela to divide the housing costs for your shared rented house or apartment in some other way than that mentioned above, please provide us with information on your actual expenses for the rented housing.

Kela has the right to receive information from landlords, housing cooperatives and real estate corporations about rental agreements and occupancy when that information is necessary for the processing of applications for social assistance. If we receive information in electronic form directly from your landlord, you do not need to send us your rental agreement or proof of the amount of your rent. See a list of landlords that send information on rental agreements in electronic form to Kela.

Owner-occupied housing (shares in a housing corporation)

You can get social assistance for the following costs of an owner-occupied home:

• maintenance charge, additional one-off maintenance charge, and land lease fee
• the part of the financing fee used to cover interest payments on housing corporation loans
• separate heating costs (such as electric or wood heating) and sauna fee
• interest payments on personal housing loans if taken out to purchase or modernise the dwelling.

Owner-occupied housing (single-family detached house)

You can get social assistance for the following costs of a single-family detached house:

• necessary maintenance costs, consisting of
  • heating costs (such as electric, wood or oil heating)
  • water charges
  • property-specific charges (such as waste collection, chimney sweep, insurance, property tax and ground rent)
• interest payments on personal housing loans if taken out to purchase or modernise the dwelling.

Part-ownership housing

You can get social assistance for the following costs of part-ownership housing:

• rent
• separate charges for heating, water, and use of the sauna.

Right-of-occupancy housing

You can get social assistance for the following costs of right-of-occupancy housing:

• residence charge
• separate charges for heating, water and use of the sauna
• interest payments on personal housing loans if taken out to purchase or modernise the dwelling.

If your housing costs exceed the limit set for your municipality and you do not have special grounds for higher housing costs as specified in law, we will ask you to look for more affordable housing within three months.

The special grounds for higher housing costs as specified in law include for example the following:

• if you or a family member are old or in poor health;
• if a family member with a disability has a special need for space due to assistive devices or caregivers;
• if you are a non-custodial parent and you need additional space for parent-child visits;
• if your family includes a child with special needs, and continued attendance at the same daycare centre, pre-school or school is in the child’s best interests.

If you have special grounds for housing costs that are higher than the limit for your municipality, you should send proof of these special grounds with your application for social assistance (for example a medical certificate or a statement from the social welfare services).

Unfortunately, we cannot accept as special grounds the fact that there is no housing available in your municipality that meets the criteria for recognised housing costs. Even in that case, you must be able to prove that you have looked for more affordable housing using all the means at your disposal. If you fail to find more affordable housing within 3 months despite actively looking for it, we can extend the time limit.

If you have not moved to more affordable housing within the time limit, we will take your housing costs into account up to the municipality-specific limit going forward. This means that you do not have to move out of your home, but if you do not move, you yourself will have to pay for the portion of your housing costs that exceeds the limit.

What to do if you have been asked to look for more affordable housing

• Start looking for more affordable housing immediately and search actively for housing. Send Kela information on your search for housing. You will see what information you need to send in the decision notice you have received.
• Only apply for housing where the housing costs are below the limit for housing costs in the municipality. Do not limit your search according to, for example, the residential area or the size and characteristics of the apartment.
• Search for more affordable housing by looking at rental housing owned by your municipality, large rental agencies operating in the municipality, or by private owners. If you need help finding more affordable housing, you can contact the housing counselling services provided by the municipality where you live or by some other organisation.
• If you receive social assistance from Kela, you can receive assistance with your moving costs and with the rental security deposit, on the condition that the rent for your new home does not exceed the limits set for the municipality.

Social assistance can also be granted for necessary household electricity costs. We will take them into account in addition to the housing costs that fall within the municipality-specific limit.

Household electricity means electricity used for household appliances, electronics and lighting.

Kela has defined nominal limit values for necessary household electricity costs. Kela uses them when processing applications. The nominal limit values are based on data recorded in the Energy Authority’s electricity price information system and electricity companies’ data on average electricity consumption in households of different sizes. The limit values also account for the average electricity consumption of standard assistive devices used by persons with certain medical conditions or disabilities.

In addition, Kela always takes the basic electricity distribution fee (sähkönsiirron perusmaksu) separately into account as an expense because customers have no control over it.

Social assistance is not granted for additional services, such as green electricity or a price cap.

Kela applies a higher nominal limit value when calculating social assistance for persons who live in a single-family home or a semi-detached house as they will usually have electrical appliances or equipment not present in other types of housing that increase the consumption of household electricity.

If you apply for social assistance for household electricity costs, you must send the bills for the costs to Kela with your application. Bills must be based on actual consumption. The bills must have a due date during the period for which you are applying for social assistance. The due date means the due date of the original bill, not the due date of the reminder.

Social assistance can be granted for water charges and home insurance premiums. It can also be granted for a parking space if a member of the family has reduced mobility. We will take these costs into account in addition to the housing costs that fall within the municipality-specific limit.

If you apply for social assistance for such costs, you must send the bills for the costs to Kela with your application. The bills must have a due date during the period for which you are applying for social assistance. The due date means the due date of the original bill, not the due date of the reminder.

Water charges

Social assistance may be granted for reasonable water charges. A reasonable water charge is EUR 26.40 per person and per month. If the water charge is included in the rent, it will not be accepted separately as a cost under social assistance.

Home insurance

The table below shows the limits for acceptable home insurance premiums in 2026. The same limits apply to both owner-occupied and rental housing.

Parking space for a person with reduced mobility

The fee for a parking space can be accepted as a cost if you or a member of your family has reduced mobility.

If you apply for social assistance for a parking space, you must include proof of reduced mobility with your application.

The following are some examples of housing costs for which you cannot get social assistance from Kela:

Fees for the use of your building’s laundry room

Costs related to personal hygiene and to keeping your home clean are included in the basic amount, and that is why they are not accepted as separate costs for the purposes of social assistance.

Fees for a parking space

The fee for a parking space can be accepted as a cost only if you or a member of your family has reduced mobility.

Costs pertaining to household appliances and furniture

You cannot get social assistance from Kela for costs pertaining to household appliances and furniture. However, the social services of your wellbeing services county can pay you supplementary social assistance for such costs, after considering your situation.

Certain costs pertaining to owner-occupied housing

You cannot get social assistance for

• the part of the financing fee used for repayments on housing corporation loans
• interest payments on loans if taken out to make the down payment on a part-ownership home.

When you move into a rented apartment, you are usually required to post a rental security deposit, which is the equivalent of a few months’ rent, or to pay rent in advance. If necessary, the landlord will use it to cover costs such as repairs of damage to the apartment. As a rule, you are expected to pay the security deposit yourself.

If you need social assistance for a rental security deposit, we will usually grant it as a voucher to your landlord.

We can grant social assistance for the rental security deposit for example in the following situations:

• divorce or end of cohabitation
• health reasons
• change in family size
• homelessness
• threat of homelessness
• finding employment in another city or town
• gaining admission to a degree-oriented educational programme in another city or town
• moving to a more affordable apartment.

Social assistance for a rental security deposit cannot be granted if you move

• to a more expensive apartment
• for convenience (e.g, access to a sauna or your own yard, moving to a more attractive part of town)
• to another city or town if is not necessary because of some acceptable reason
• out of your parents’ home without specific reasons
• for other comparable reasons.

If your landlord has had reason to use the rental security deposit for which you have been granted social assistance, we will subject your next application for a security deposit to a stricter review. Kela will contact you before the rental security deposit is paid to the landlord.

How to apply for a rental security deposit

Apply for a rental security deposit before you sign your rental agreement. You will not be able to receive social assistance retroactively for a rental security deposit if you have already paid it yourself.

• You must have a decision on social assistance for the month in which your rental security deposit is due.
• If you do not have a decision on social assistance, you must first apply for it in OmaKela. You can apply for a rental security deposit with the same application. OmaKela is available in Finnish and Swedish.
• If you have a decision on social assistance, you can apply for a rental security deposit in OmaKela under Ilmoita muutoksista (Report changes). Under Etuus, select Toimeentulotuki and then Muutto. Alternatively, you can apply for a rental security deposit on the form TO2e, Social assistance - Rental security deposit (pdf).
• Enclose with your application a preliminary rental agreement or offer of rental accommodation, including information on the house or apartment, the landlord, and the rent and the rental security deposit. If you want Kela to send the deposit directly to your landlord, state that in your application.

You will receive a separate decision notice if we grant social assistance for the security deposit. The decision will include a voucher for the rental security deposit, unless you have asked for it to be sent directly to your landlord.

The rental security deposit is for a specific dwelling, which means that you cannot use it for another house or apartment. If your rental agreement is in force until further notice, the rental security deposit is also valid until further notice.

If you have a fixed-term rental agreement, the rental security deposit is valid for the same fixed term. If you make a new rental agreement for the same house or apartment after the fixed-term agreement has ended, you must submit a new application for assistance with the rental security deposit. Enclose your new rental agreement or offer of rental accommodation with your new application. Apply for a new rental security deposit immediately, or within a month of the end of your previous rental agreement.

Kela has the right to receive information from landlords, housing cooperatives and real estate corporations about rental agreements and occupancy when that information is necessary for the processing of applications for social assistance. If we receive information in electronic form directly from your landlord, you do not need to send us your rental agreement or proof of the amount of your rent. See a list of landlords that send information on rental agreements in electronic form to Kela.

If there is a legitimate reason for the move, Kela can grant social assistance towards essential costs related to moving, such as the cost of transporting household goods.

Legitimate reasons include the following:

• divorce or end of cohabitation
• health reasons
• a need for additional space due to the family expanding
• homelessness
• threat of homelessness
• finding employment in another city or town
• gaining admission to a degree-oriented educational programme in another city or town
• moving to a more affordable apartment.

It is not considered a legitimate reason for moving if, for example, you move:

• to a more expensive apartment
• for convenience (e.g, access to a sauna or your own yard, moving to a more attractive part of town)
• to another city or town if is not necessary because of some acceptable reason
• moving out of your parents’ home without specific reasons while you are under 18 years of age.

As a rule, you have to arrange the move yourself. If you need social assistance for the costs of the move, we can accept moving costs of EUR 120 or 180. The amount depends on how far you are moving and the size of your family.

In special circumstances, for example due to health reasons, Kela may issue a voucher that can be used for moving services. If you are about to move, you should contact Kela well in advance of the move.

You can get social assistance for the following healthcare user fees for public healthcare services in Finland:

• fees related to doctor's appointments or dental care (for example health centre fees)
• home visit fees, if the home healthcare provider or other healthcare professional is visiting your home on a temporary basis
• outpatient clinic charges
• charges for hospital services
• costs for doctor's statements related to the care provided
• physiotherapy charges in public healthcare.

Social assistance can only be granted to the amount of the public healthcare user fee, even if your wellbeing services county has provided the service against a service voucher. If you use a service voucher and its value is not sufficient to cover the service in full, you will usually have to pay the amount exceeding the user fee yourself.

You can also get social assistance for the copayment (omavastuu in Finnish) of rehabilitative psychotherapy provided by Kela and for the healthcare fee for students in higher education.

If you apply for social assistance for healthcare costs, you must send the receipts and bills for the costs to Kela with your application. The bills must have a due date during the period for which you are applying for social assistance. The due date means the due date of the original bill, not the due date of the reminder.

Read more about sending receipts to Kela.

Read more about sending bills to Kela.

You can receive social assistance for the expenses for private healthcare only in exceptional cases.

As a rule, we reimburse travel costs on the basis of the least expensive method of travel, but we will take your state of health into account.

Travel costs for which you can get social assistance

You can get social assistance for the cost of travelling to a public healthcare provider or to rehabilitation. Social assistance can generally be granted for such costs only if they are eligible for reimbursement for travel costs from Kela. Apply for reimbursement for travel costs first.

You can get social assistance for the copayments (your own share of the travel costs, or omavastuu in Finnish) of your travel costs. Enclose a receipt or ticket showing the details of the trip with your application for social assistance.

In your application, you can request a voucher for travel if you cannot pay for the trip yourself. We reimburse travel costs on the basis of the least expensive method of travel, but we will take your state of health into account.

If you are unable to travel by public transport due to your health, you can ask in your application for a voucher for a taxi ride reimbursed by Kela. Vouchers can only be granted for the copayment for a taxi trip and only on the condition that you have not reached the annual out-of-pocket maximum limit on travel costs. Contact a dispatch centre to book a taxi reimbursed by Kela.

You can give your consent for the voucher to be sent directly to the Kela taxi dispatch centre

With your consent, Kela can send the voucher electronically to the dispatch centre for Kela taxis. You can give your consent in the section Additional information on the application form.

When you have given your consent, we will also send the following information to the dispatch centre:

• an identifier for your voucher and its date of expiry
• the start and end points of your journey
• confirmation that no copayment will be charged and that the voucher covers the full cost of the trip.

It is entirely your choice to give consent or not, and it does not affect your entitlement to social assistance or your right to receive a voucher for travel costs.

If we grant you a voucher for your travel costs but you do not give your consent to the use of an electronic voucher, we will give you a paper voucher.

Your consent will be valid for one calendar year at a time. You can choose to specify a shorter period of validity for your consent. You can also withdraw your consent at any time by notifying Kela about it. Once Kela has received your message indicating that you wish to withdraw your consent, we will no longer send details on your voucher to the dispatch centre.

You can get social assistance towards the cost of the oral and dental care you receive within the public healthcare system.

You can also receive social assistance for prosthetic dentistry if it is provided by public healthcare services. Where needed, public healthcare units will order the technical work related to dental care from a private dental technician. You can also get social assistance for the costs of the technical work.

If you apply for social assistance for the costs of oral and dental care, you must send the receipts and bills for the costs to Kela with your application. The bills must have a due date during the period for which you are applying for social assistance. The due date means the due date of the original bill, not the

Read more about sending receipts to Kela.

Read more about sending bills to Kela.

You can get social assistance for eyeglasses if the eyeglasses are necessary because of an eye disorder or defective eyesight. We grant a voucher that you can use to buy the eyeglasses. The voucher also covers an eye test by an optician.

Indicate in the application if you need a voucher for eyeglasses. Also provide the following information:

• do you have glasses at present?
• when did you acquire the glasses you have?
• why do you need new glasses?

The voucher includes information on the approved opticians’ it is good for. Kela has agreed on prices directly with these opticians’.

You may buy a more expensive pair of glasses at a store approved by Kela, but if you do, we will only reimburse the agreed price. This means you have to pay the rest of the price yourself.

If you buy glasses without a voucher, you can only receive social assistance up to the equivalent of Kela’s agreed price.

You can receive social assistance from Kela for purchasing glasses every 3 years unless there is a particularly weighty reason for granting the benefit more often.

When you are granted social assistance, you usually get an electronic voucher for medicines at the same time. You get the voucher in paper form only if you do not have a Finnish personal identity code. The voucher is for personal use only.

How to use the voucher

• The voucher can be used at any pharmacy one day after it has been granted. The voucher will remain accessible to the pharmacies as long as it is valid.
• You can visit any pharmacy you wish.
• Present your Kela card or ID-card so that the pharmacy can look up information on your direct reimbursements and your voucher.
• If you do not give the pharmacy permission to look up your direct reimbursements and voucher, you will have to pay for the medicines yourself.

You will receive more detailed instructions on what the voucher covers and how to use it when you get your decision on social assistance.

Medicines and healthcare costs for which you can get social assistance

You can use the voucher only for medicines and other products which have been prescribed to you for the treatment of an illness. In certain situations, we may have to ask for a medical statement showing that the medicine, pharmaceutical product or healthcare cost is medically absolutely necessary for the treatment of your illness.

You can get up to 3 months' worth of medication at one time. You cannot get a refill until you have used up nearly all of the previous batch in accordance with the prescription. The pharmacy will substitute a less expensive, interchangeable generic product for the brand prescribed to you unless your doctor has ruled out such a substitution.

If you have paid for the medicines yourself, enclose the receipts for the medicines you paid for with your application for social assistance. Even then, social assistance can only be granted for the copayment (out-of-pocket costs, or omavastuu in Finnish) of the cost of the medicines.

Kela has the right to receive information needed to process applications for social assistance from pharmacies and suppliers of medicinal oxygen and to release such information to them.

If you have coeliac disease, Kela can take into account EUR 38 per month as additional food costs arising from a gluten-free diet when calculating your social assistance from 1 March 2025 onwards. The amount is EUR 19 per month for a child over the age of 16 who takes turns living in the separate households of their parents or guardians based on a dual-residence arrangement. Read more about how social assistance is calculated.

The allowance can be paid to each family member with coeliac disease who is 16 or older. Children under the age of 16 can get disability allowance for persons under 16 years of age on account of the strain caused and the commitment required by the treatment of coeliac disease.

Provide proof of a coeliac diagnosis with your application for social assistance. You can submit, for example, a medical certificate or a medical history stating that coeliac disease has been appropriately diagnosed with a blood test or an intestinal biopsy. Dermatitis herpetiformis is diagnosed with a skin biopsy.

You do not need to provide proof of a coeliac diagnosis if Kela has previously paid you a dietary grant or disability allowance for persons under 16 years of age due to coeliac disease. Previous payment means that Kela already has information on your diagnosis.

As of 1 September 2025, persons aged 65 or over can see a private general practitioner and only pay a deductible for their appointments. The deductible, which is the part you pay yourself, is the same as the local user fee charged by public healthcare providers. The remaining cost of the appointment will be covered by reimbursements from Kela. The pilot study also covers some examinations and tests. You can get them done at a lower rate if the doctor orders them for you during your appointment. The pilot study will run until the end of 2027. In 2025, you can see a private general practitioner up to 2 times at the price of the deductible. In 2026 and 2027, you can have up to 3 appointments per calendar year at this price.

During the pilot study, you can apply for social assistance to cover the deductibles you have to pay for the appointments and for the reimbursable examinations or tests that the doctor has ordered. Submit a copy of the receipt or bill you got from the doctor together with your application for social assistance. The due date of the bill must be within the period for which you are applying for social assistance.

Read more about the pilot study on freedom of choice in healthcare and the appointments, examinations and tests included in the pilot study.

You can get social assistance towards the fees for municipal early childhood education and for before and after-school activities that the municipality arranges for 1st and 2nd year schoolchildren. Social assistance may also be available for older schoolchildren if they have special needs. If that is the case, you must include a decision on the child’s special needs issued by your municipality as a supporting document with your application.

You can receive social assistance for the cost of private early childhood education services only in exceptional cases. This includes situations where we estimate that your need for social assistance will only last for a short period of time. If we grant social assistance for the costs of private early childhood education, we usually also advise you to apply for place for your child in municipal early childhood education.

If you have a child under the age of 18 that you have parent-child visits with, you can receive social assistance for the costs.

In that case, you should send with your application an agreement confirmed by the municipal authorities or your wellbeing services county or a court decision on the right of access of a child. An agreement between the parents is not sufficient in itself.

Child-specific food allowance for days of parent-child visits

If you live in a different household than your child, you can receive social assistance as a child-specific food allowance for the days when you see your child. As a rule, we pay the food allowance for the days when you see your child in accordance with the agreement on the right of access. You do not need to send any receipts for food costs with your application.

The food allowance for the child cannot be granted to a parent or guardian who is living with the child.

You cannot get social assistance for additional food costs arising from your child’s coeliac disease if you do not live in the same household as your child.

How is the food allowance calculated?

The child’s food allowance per month is 49 per cent of the basic amount allocated to a child the same age. To calculate the food allowance for a day, divide the food allowance for one month by 30.

Travel costs

You can get social assistance for travel costs if you are the parent or guardian of a child who lives with you and who travels to meet a parent living in a different household, which leads to travel costs for you. The travel costs must be agreed upon in a confirmed agreement on the right of access or ordered by court decision. The parent meeting the child is responsible for the travel costs if there is no separate, confirmed agreement or decision about how the travel costs are divided.

When you apply for social assistance for travel costs, submit a receipt or ticket showing the details of the trip with your application.

When social assistance is calculated, travel costs related to parent-child visits are included based on the least expensive method of travel. As a rule, Kela cannot pay social assistance for costs for travel abroad, and the costs for which social assistance is paid must be incurred in Finland. We can also recognise the travel costs of a person accompanying a child if the child is under 7 years of age or cannot travel unaccompanied for due to health-related or other specific reasons.

If the child lives alternately in two homes

If a child spends half of their time with one parent and half with the other parent or guardian, the child belongs to both families. This means that Kela cannot grant separate assistance for the costs of parent-child visits because the child alternates between the households of each parent or a parent and another guardian. In that case, the basic amount for the child is divided equally between the families.

The basic amount of a child that lives alternately with each parent can be divided between the families without a confirmed agreement or court decision on the right of access. If the child lives alternately with a parent and another guardian, we need a confirmed agreement or court decision on the right of access in order to divide the child’s basic amount between the families.

A wellbeing services county can grant supplementary social assistance to cover expenses that are related to your or your family’s special needs and circumstances. These expenses must be necessary for your means of subsistence and for the promotion of your autonomy and independence.

The wellbeing services county may consider special needs and circumstances to be, for example, if your family has received social assistance for a long time, if there is chronic or serious illness in the family or if you have any special needs related to the children’s hobby activities.

The wellbeing services county may also provide you with preventive social assistance, which is often associated with social work. The purpose of preventive social assistance is to promote the social security and autonomy of your family and yourself and also to prevent social exclusion and long-term dependency on social assistance.

Preventive social assistance can be granted for such purposes as:

• to secure your housing arrangements
• to relieve hardship caused by unmanageable debts or a sudden financial setback
• to promote the autonomy of your family or yourself in other ways.

Information about supplementary and preventive social assistance is available from the social services in your wellbeing services county.

1. Always apply to Kela first when you need social assistance. You will need a decision on social assistance from Kela even if you are only applying for supplementary or preventive assistance.
2. In your application, you can state that you have expenses which are not covered by the social assistance that Kela pays and that you need supplementary or preventive social assistance for these.

   • Enter these expenses under Additional information on the application form.
   • Also state the reasons why you need help with these expenses.
   • At the same time, ask us to forward your application and the supporting documents to your wellbeing services county for processing. We will only forward the expenses that are not covered by social assistance from Kela to the wellbeing services county.
3. If you have already received a decision from Kela on social assistance, you can apply directly to the wellbeing services county for supplementary or preventive social assistance.